In Her Eyes
by Princess of the Pearl
Summary: Sweet little plotless one-shot in which Jack watches Elizabeth sleep, reflecting about their relationship and wondering why she puts up with him. SPARRABETH.


**IN HER EYES**

**SUMMARY: **Sweet little plotless one-shot in which Jack watches Elizabeth sleep, reflecting about their relationship and wondering why she puts up with him. SPARRABETH.

**A/N: **I was inspired to write this when I saw a Sparrabeth video on YouTube, set to Josh Groban's "In Her Eyes." So yes, this is a songfic. I typically don't like songfics (I actually _really_ don't like songfics), but I absolutely love this song and every time I hear it I think about Jack and Lizzie. I tried to focus more on the story and not the sappy lyrics, which I think is a problem with a lot of songfics on the net nowadays. So not only did I write a songfic, but I actually have another one in the works. Crazy. Anyways, enjoy and please review!

**DISCLAIMER: **None of the characters are mine, sadly. Song isn't mine either.

* * *

Jack Sparrow smiled to himself as he brushed a lock of golden blonde hair out of his sleeping wife's face. He'd been watching her sleep for nearly two hours. She was too gorgeous to focus on anything else. God, how he was a fool for her, lying there, grinning like an idiot. But he couldn't help himself. The man was completely gone for her. Head over heels, over the moon, completely and hopelessly in love with her. And he was the only one who knew it. He'd told her before that he loved her, of course, but he couldn't help but wonder if she knew exactly _how much_ he loved her. He'd do anything for her. If she were to wake up and demand that he give up his ship and life as a pirate, he'd do it. She wouldn't of course, but if she did… he might gripe about it, might be an ardent pain in the ass, but he'd do it. No question. She wouldn't even have to give him a reason. Just the knowledge that it was something she wanted would be enough for him.

The fact that she was his, his wife, his lover, his best friend, his partner in crime, his whatever-you-want-to-call-it, made his life complete. He knew she loved him. Why, he still didn't know. She was a pirate herself, true enough, but that didn't change the fact that she was a beautiful, intelligent, classy young woman. And she was insightful. She was the most perceptive person he'd ever met in his life. She saw qualities in him that he himself barely knew he had. She was the only person who saw the good man that lay within him, something his own father didn't even see.

_She stares through my shadow_

_She sees something more_

_Believes there's a light in me_

_She is sure_

He'd given her plenty of reasons to give up on him. Most of them were before they were even a couple, but they were damn valid reasons nonetheless. Why she stuck around was another mystery he hadn't yet solved. But he knew that if she were to leave, he'd be alone the rest of his life. There _was _no life without Elizabeth, his dear, sweet, Lizzie. Spending each day with her made him strong, gave him strength he didn't realize he needed. He could only imagine himself as a complicated mess, a poor wretch of a man, if she were to suddenly become absent from his life.

_And her truth makes me stronger_

_Does she realize_

_I awake every morning_

_With her strength by my side_

That notion in itself frightened him, for he knew how vulnerable it made him and how vulnerable it made her. Being who he was, a notorious pirate captain, he had enemies. And if those enemies knew how much she meant to him… the thought made him cringe. When they'd said their vows just a few weeks earlier, he'd promised to always protect her. And he would. He'd die protecting her if that's what it came to. But the thought that it could come to that? He was Captain Jack Sparrow. He knew that, hell, everyone knew _that_. But he was human. What would happen if he _couldn't _protect her? He would never be able to live with himself if anything ever happened to her. He sighed as his brow furrowed, trying to shake those thoughts from his head. She'd told him once that he was her hero, that he made her feel safe. For now, with no immediate danger on the horizon, that would have to be enough.

_I am not a hero_

_I am not an angel_

_I am just a man_

_Man who's trying to love her_

_Unlike any other_

_In her eyes I am_

They way she had changed him was astounding. He remembered that when he'd told her that on their wedding night, she laughed.

"Oh, Jack," she had said, shaking her head and placing her hands on either side of his face. "I didn't change you. This has been a part of you all along. If anything, I merely helped you find it."

He couldn't help but feel like a different man when he was with her, a better man, _a good person_. And she was right, of course, again. (He'd learned that she was always right.) She was the only person he'd ever met that made him behave that way. She was the only one who made him feel like a big old softie. He never thought he'd be a husband. Even when he'd been engaged once before, long before Elizabeth, the notion of being married was still over his head, out of his grasp. Yet now that he was married, now that he was somebody's husband, he found that he rather enjoyed it. Not only that, he found himself thinking of the future in ways that he never had before. He thought about his wife and the things they would do together, and not only in privacy of their cabin. He thought about the family they would someday have. Jack Sparrow thinking about _children_? That was nuts. Jack Sparrow thinking about _having children_? That was completely foreign territory.

But he did think about it. Often. She had put him on a life path that he never knew he always wanted. The thought was mind boggling. The thought that another person, especially Elizabeth Swann, the uptight, well-to-do, governor's daughter he'd first met all those years ago, baffled him to say the least. He'd watched her blossom into what she was now, a pirate, _his pirate_. She grounded him, she guided him… she was everything. She was life.

_This world keeps on spinning_

_Only she stills my heart_

_She's my inspiration_

_She's my northern star_

Being a pirate, he mused, certainly came with its rewards. Plundering ships and helpless little port towns for earthly possessions was a glamorous part of pirate life. But being a husband? Being part of a couple? He smiled, watching her as she slightly rustled in her sleep, hoping she was dreaming of something pleasant. Being a husband, being her husband, was infinitely better and more rewarding than he ever would have thought.

He thought again about how strange it was, how his priorities had changed. The Black Pearl would always be his most prized possession, only because his mother had taught him long ago that women were not objects to be owned or controlled. But since he'd been with Elizabeth, it seemed to have been knocked down a few pegs in terms of importance. She came first, no questions asked. That's all there was to it. End of sentence, period. Done.

_I don't count my possessions_

_All I call mine_

_I will give her completely_

_To the end of all time_

He thought back to a time when Lizzie wasn't his, when she belonged to someone else. That seemed to be ages ago, yet it had only been a few years. He remembered wanting to stab the heart of Davy Jones, how he wanted that more than anything else. How sad life had been, and he didn't even realize it at the time. But he couldn't help but remember why he had wanted to stab the bloody heart in the first place. To escape her and the feelings he had for her. He thought that a new start, a new job, so to speak, would forever erase her from his heart. He thanked God every day, whoever God was and wherever God might be, for he was never a particularly religious man, that he didn't stab the heart. An eternity alone, without her… that would be a truly unfortunate life indeed.

He remembered when he'd given up on the fountain of youth. It was the day he'd recognized that he was truly in love with her, and that to live forever would mean watching her fade away, a victim of aging and eventually, die. The thought of watching that happen to her whilst he stayed young and strong forever made his chest hurt. That was when he went to her, found her alone and pregnant with her undead husband's child, needing his companionship as much as he'd needed hers. He thought about the sleeping toddler in the cabin next to theirs, the one he'd vowed to raise as his own. The one that was too young to know the truth. The one that called him _daddy_.

Daddy. He grinned. Being a stepfather to Elizabeth's son had given him a taste of fatherhood. And now that he'd tasted it, there was no going back. He was hooked. And he wanted more. He wouldn't be the best father in the world. Was there such a thing? But he knew that with her as his partner in that particular journey, he'd be pretty damn close.

_I am not a hero_

_I am not an angel_

_I am just a man_

_Man who's trying to love her_

_Unlike any other_

_In her eyes I am_

What a cynic he'd been before her. He used to think that the notion of one person depending on another was completely ludicrous. The idea of soul mates was unrealistic. Being with one woman for the 

rest of your life? How absurd. But it made him happy. Having her as his one and only made him feel fulfilled in a way that he'd never been before. He couldn't ask for more than what he had. He'd been given a family, the type of family he didn't know he needed.

_In her eyes I see the sky and all I'll ever need_

He leaned down and placed a kiss on her soft, smooth cheek. She began to stir. He didn't know what would happen when she woke up. He didn't know what would happen tomorrow or the next day. He didn't know where they'd be, the three of them, in one year, or two, or three or even ten. There could be more of them by that time. There could be, heaven forbid, less. But he somehow knew that no matter what happened, no matter what hardships they had to face or what challenges would come their way, it would be alright, as long as they were still together.

_In her eyes time passes by and she is with me_

"Jack?" He smiled as she yawned and opened her eyes, looking up at him. Her eyes looked worried. "What is it? Is it Liam?"

"No, Liam's fine," he whispered.

"Then what is it?" She rolled over and sat up, rubbing her eyes. He smirked. She smiled, ear to ear. "Just needed a kiss, did you?"

"Mmhmm." He nodded his head.

"All you had to do was ask," she leaned down and kissed him, a hand tangling into his thick, dark hair. When they broke apart, they were both smiling. She settled back down against his chest, nestling into the crook of his arm. He used that hand to stroke her hair, running his fingers through her soft tresses. Her fingers, in response, drew circles against his bare, tan skin. "How long were you watching me?" she asked quietly, her eyes shifting up to look at him.

He didn't answer with words. He answered by placing a gentle kiss on the top of her head, whispering a hushed _I love you_ as she closed her eyes again. Who would of thought, he mused…

_I am not a hero_

_I am not an angel_

_I am just a man_

_Man who's trying to love her_

_Unlike any other_

As she drifted off to sleep again, he thought of the man he'd been and the man he'd become. For the first time in his life, he actually liked who he was. The façade, the ego he used to hide behind, he didn't need any more. He had her. She was all he needed.

_In her eyes I am_

**END**


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